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NETLEY ABBEY. 



A DESCRIPTIVE AND HISTORICAL 
SKETCH OF THE 

©tsternan JWonasterg 

OF NETLEY, 

by 

CUTHBERT MONK, M.A. 



All Rights Reserved. 



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NETLEY ABBEY. 



A DESCRIPTIVE AND HISTORICAL 
SKETCH OF THE 

©tsteman Jttonasterg 

OF NETLEY, 

BY 

CUTHBERT MONK, M.A. 



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All Rights Reserved. 



SOUTHAMPTON : 

HAMPSHIRE ADVERTISER COUNTY NEWSPAPER OFFICE. 

1886. 



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PREFACE. 



The following pages are an attempt to give an accurate 
description of Netley Abbey, and an unbiassed account of the 
importance and influence of the monastic orders at the period 
of their greatest usefulness. The ground plan has been 
carefully compared with that of other abbeys of the same 
monastic order, and the writer believes that he has correctly 
named each part of the monastery. He acknowledges the 
help received from the Rev. E. L. Cutt's work, "Turning 
Points of English Church History/' and Guillaume's Netley 
Abbey, with gratitude. 



ROUTES TO NETLEY. 



From Southampton Netley Abbey is easily reached 
by road, rail, or water. Frequent trains run from 
the Docks and Northam Stations to Netley, about a 
mile distant from the ruin. If desired, a conveyance 
may be hired at the latter Station. A pedestrian, 
with ordinary powers of locomotion, by crossing the 
Itchen on the Floating Bridge, and taking the road 
through Woolston, can be at the place as soon on 
foot, as by rail. Or if time is no object, and wind 
and tide serve, a boat may be taken from any of the 
numerous watermen plying near the pier and the 
Itchen. 



INTRODUCTORY. 



Why does everybody go to see a ruin ? It is not one person 
or another ; the taste is almost, perhaps, quite universal, 
which places a ruined abbey or castle at the head of the lions 
of a neighbourhood. We visit and revisit them, measure and 
re-measure all their dimensions, search into all the holes and 
corners with which such buildings are so plentifully stored, 
and which years of neglect and decay have abundantly 
increased. Not content with descriptions, we go to satisfy 
ourselves of their accuracy, and think no pains too great by 
which we obtain information on a subject so universally 
interesting. 

There are many causes that contribute to promote this taste ; 
some go to see such sights merely to satisfy an inquisitive 
taste, and return perhaps not one whit wiser ; others, again, 
visit them for fashion's sake, that they may talk of what they 
have seen, and be able to introduce the subject as a topic of 
conversation ; some, again, make a pic-nic to such a ruin, and 



VI. INTRODUCTORY. 

go merely for the pleasure of a chat with their cousins or 
sweethearts, have an hour or two of flirtation, and wake next 
morning with as much knowledge of the scene they have 
visited, as much advantage gained, as if they had never been 
there. Xow we do not mean to say that there is not a time 
for pleasure, or that people's minds should ever be on the 
stretch for information ; but there is a more worthy object to 
be gained in witnessing the scenes of by-gone glory, and 
nothing more likely to be instructive than a visit to the abodes 
of great and holy men of former days, and contemplating the 
changes which have taken place, whether for better or worse, 
since the days when those houses which are now fast 
crumbling to decay, were the hallowed precincts of some 
religious, or as we are too apt to say in our day, superstitious 
institution. 

To say that our monastic institutions were built by a 
superstitious people, in an age of uncommon darkness, — that 
they were applied only to impose upon the laity, and to 
increase the power and luxuries of the clergy, is not a true 
statement of fact, and it certainly is not charitable. 

When men claim to have certain religious feelings and 
thoughts — when their conduct accords with their claims, and 
especially when that conduct implies self-denial and a 
resignation of the riches of the world, it seems unreasonable 
not to give them credit for speaking the truth ; and such 
were most of those who founded and endowed those religious 
institutions which were once the glory of England, and whose 
verv ruins reproach us with the thought of what we might 
have now enjoyed, had the liberality of their benefactors been 
preserved to religious uses. We do not suppose that all were 
guided by pure desires; some were instigated by ambition 
probably, and a wish to leave their names to posterity ; some 



INTEODUCTORY. Vll. 

thought that by giving up a portion of their wealth they could 
purchase for themselves that eternal happiness which the 
violence and rapacity of their previous lives seemed little to 
deserve ; some, in memory of their friends, for whom they 
desired to purchase the prayers of the Church, were drawn 
into acts of liberality. But granting that all were not urged 
by the same feelings, yet in all cases, with few exceptions, we 
must allow some justice to those claims of religion which all 
must have professed before they would have pu tthemselves 
out of the way to promote its glory, and increase its means of 
doing good. It is but just, then, to say that those who thus 
dedicated their wealth to God, were moved to such acts by 
feelings of religion, sometimes indeed, if we will so have it, of 
superstition. 

That they were dedicated to God, no one can deny, — nor 
that their founders and benefactors were inspired with holy 
and religious zeal. It does not follow, of course, that the 
partakers of their liberality might not abuse the benefits, but 
it was much more frequently spent nobly and worthily. 
Those who were most liberal in their abuse of monastic 
institutions just before the dissolution were those who 
derived great temporal advantages from their ruin ; and we 
cannot acquit them, in the zeal they showed for their 
destruction, of interested motives. Therefore notwithstanding 
all the calumnies of enemies and such opponents as these, we 
may believe that neitfier the monasteries nor the monks were 
so bad as we are generally taught to think them. 

Among the advantages of their existence, it was surely no 
trifling one for England when daily and hourly the clergy 
were offering their prayers and praises to God for the 
prosperity of the church and nation ; w r hen each abbey 
lormed a peaceful and verdant oasis in a world which was 



viii. INTRODUCTORY. 

unhappily too often a scene of violence and rapacity, and 
offered a home to those retiring and gentle spirits who 
recoiled from the discord and disturbance that reigned beyond 
their hallowed precincts ; who deemed themselves happier in 
the pursuit of theological study, or engaged in the exercises 
of the religion of peace, than they could have been in hurrying 
hundreds of their fellow creatures to a violent and dreadful 
death. This, surely, was no small thing. 

Again, the monasteries were the sources from which was 
derived all the learning of the kingdom. To almost every 
monastery a school was attached, to which a master was 
appointed, paid out of the revenues. Besides this, there was 
an almoner who distributed alms daily at the gate to the poor 
and needy. The loss of these advantages was felt most 
severely at the time ; complaints were made of the loss of the 
schools ; whole villages were depopulated, and their inhabi- 
tants ruined by the expulsion of those to whom they had been 
accustomed to look for assistance. 

While Christianity exists we shall be grateful for the 
blessings which the fathers and the schoolmen left us, in 
the writings which are the best repository of the evidence of 
our faith. 

Could the abbeys have continued, with such reform- 
ation as has taken place, for example, in the Colleges of our 
Universities, they might have been a blessing to all generations. 
They were not, altogether, destroyed for the sake of religion, 
though this was sometimes made an excuse, but to satisfy the 
rapacity of a ruthless monarch, that he might enrich his 
favourites. Had they never been destroyed, we should not 
have had poor rates, for the liberal alms at the open door 
would have supplied the needs which are now met in the 
dining-hall, as they call it, of a union workhouse. The 



INTRODUCTORY. IX. 

abbeys too would have supplied teachers for our schools, and 
missionaries for the heathen, those, too, as well, if not 
better qualified for their offices than the majority of those 
now appointed, at least if we may conjecture from what they 
did while they continued in a flourishing state. We do not say 
that they did not err both in morals and doctrine, or doubt 
that the correction of their errors had become a necessity ; 
but while we grant that some alterations were for the better, 
we think, at the same time, that some were for the worse. 
To every thoughtful mind it is a painful sight to see the 
beautiful buildings raised by our forefathers wasted and 
ruined. That demolished cloister has seen holy men pursuing, 
in its sacred recess, the study of religious lore — that ruined, 
roofless, Church has resounded with the praises of the Most 
High, — many a solemn Be Profundis has been chanted within 
its walls — there was the high altar — there the seats of the 
monks — there the seats of the choristers — and here stood 
long rows of worshippers. It is difficult, perhaps, to realize 
in these days what the life of a monastery was, but however 
it was abused, it displayed more often than not the beauty of 
holiness, and from its ruins it is scarcely possible to discern 
the fair proportions of its ancient splendour, despoiled by 
what we cannot but think, was the hand of barbarous and 
cruel sacrilege. 



" But such thoughts are unheeded when idly we gaze 
On the desolate grandeur of earlier days ; 
'Tis the wreck that is lovely, the wider the rent — 
The fuller a view of the landscape is lent. 
The wind that now sighs through the tenantless halls 
No thoughts of loved voices to memory recalls ; 



INTKODUCTOKY. 

Oh, ruins are lovely when o'er them is cast 

The green veil of ivy to shadow the past ! 

When the rent and the chasm that fearfully yawn'd 

By the moss of the lichens are sweetly adorn' d, 

When long grass doth carpet the desolate halls, 

And trees have sprung np in the whitening walls 

And woven a curtain of loveliest green, 

Where once the rich folds of the damask were seen." 



-HE<«f 



THE RISE OE MONASTERIES. 



XTO part of our English History has heen so 
misrepresented, or is still more generally 
misunderstood, than the prominent and important 
part which the monasteries played for several 
centuries. To rightly estimate their value vre must 
trace out the spirit which first gave rise to them. 
In Old Testament times we find individual examples 
of those who endeavoured to live unworldly lives, in 
close communion with God, as Elijah and John the 
Baptist. Among the Primitive Christians, the 
community of goods was in entire keeping with the 
spirit which led to the monastic life. 

The persecutions of the early Christians drove 
many of them into the Wilderness where they could 
live peaceful and contemplative lives as hermits. At 
first they had little separate caves cut out of the 
mountain side, or in cells of the ancient Egyptian 



2 THE EISE OF MONASTEKIES. 

Tombs ; and fed on the wild fruit and herbs of the 
place. Their piety and sanctity attracted others to 
settle near them to have the benefit of their wisdom 
and guidance in a holy life. In course of time a 
number of them agreed to certain rules under the 
guidance of a chosen head ; a wail generally enclosed 
a number of such cells; and the establishment was 
called a Laura. An exchange from such a simple 
arrangement to a regular monastery, with an abbot as 
superior, was easy. St. Antony, who, though born to 
a large estate, renounced the world and assumed the 
habit of a recluse, is said to have been the founder of 
monachism. For nearly twenty years he lived in a 
ruined castle in the Nile Desert, and his fame drew 
manj followers, for whom he erected monasteries. 
He died a.d., 356. One of his disciples, Pachomius, 
drew up the first written code of laws for the 
regulation of these communities. St. Basil, after- 
wards Bishop of Caesarea, who died a.d. 378, 
introduced this monastic system into Asia Minor, 
whence it spread over the East. St. Augustine is 
said to have founded monasteries in Africa, and St. 
Martin of Tours in France ; and about the same 
time they were introduced into the British Church, 
but we do not know by whom, though probably they 
came by way of France. At first here the vows were 
not made perpetually binding, for often, it is recorded, 
the monks quitted the cloister for the world. In 



THE RISE OF MONASTERIES. 3 

early times the monastery was the great centre of 
Diocesan work, the seat of education, and the Bishop 
in his place at the head of it. 

In 529, a.d., St. Benedict, an Italian of noble 
birth, founded the religious order of the Benedictines, 
and erected a monastery on Monte Cassino — a hill 
between Rome and Naples. He was followed by a 
number of persons who adopted the vows he 
established of obedience, poverty, and chastity, to 
which he added another rule, that of manual labour 
for seven hours a day, not only as a means of support, 
but also as a duty to God and man. The vows he 
made perpetual. This rule became exceedingly 
popular, and was the prototype of all the institutions 
of the kind in Western Europe. 

In England the system flourished, and several of 
the Saxon Kings anticipated Charles V. # in abdicating 
a throne for the quiet contemplative life of the cloister 
in preparing for Heaven. But in the 10th century 
some reformation became necessary, for Edgar the 
Peaceable compelled all the English monasteries to 
adopt a strict monastic rule. 

* Charles V. had been in his time Emperor of Germany, King of Spain, 
and also ruler of the Indies, Naples, and the Netherlands ; the most 
powerful monarch in Europe. Resigning all those crowns in the year 1555, 
he withdrew to a monastery of the Jeromites at Ynste, near Placentia, 
and tarried there in seclusion till he died. He is said to have employed 
his time in religious exercises, mechanical pursuits, and gardening. 
Motley, in his History of the Rise of the Dutch Republic, says " this 
view is quite erroneous," for he asserts that he was as much engaged 
with diplomatic notes and despatches in his monkish apartments as if 
lie had been in his palace at Madrid. For another view of the matter, 
see *' Cloister Life of the Emperor Charles the Fifth," by William Stirling. 



4 THE RISE OF MONASTERIES. 

The Benedictine rule began again to be very laxly 
observed, and several new orders sprang up. One of 
the most popular of these was the Cistercian, and it 
was to this order that the monks of Netley belonged. 

The Norman Conquest took place at a time when 
learning was being revived, and the religious life of 
the monasteries was being stirred to stricter rule. 
The Normans were energetic, intellectual, and full of 
religious zeal. On acquiring their new possessions in 
England they rebuilt many of the cathedrals and 
parish churches in the grand style of architecture 
which had been introduced by the genius of the 
Norman architects, but they also introduced, in 
addition to the cathedral and parochial clergy, many 
communities of this newly-reformed order of monks. 
Under the circumstances of the times it may be 
doubted whether anything could have happened 
better calculated to promote the spread of learning, 
civilisation, and religion among the people. 

Much misconception prevails about the way in 
which the religious houses were founded. People 
talk as if the monks selected all over the country the 
most beautiful and fertile tracks of land they could 
find ; that the owner at once made them a present of 
it ; that somebody built them a stately house, and a 
magnificent church ; and that when all was finished 
they settled down to a life of dignified and luxurious 
ease. The very opposite is the fact. In the twelfth 



THE EISE OF MONASTEKIES. 5 

and thirteenth centuries England was more than half 
covered with forest, marsh, and moor. The founders 
of a monastery asked for nothing more than such a 
piece of land. They wished to settle in a remote 
place ; and gladly undertook the labour of reclaiming 
waste land, and bringing it into cultivation. There 
was no more sacrifice then in parting with a few 
acres of unproductive land than there is in our own 
day in allotting a few acres to a family of emigrants 
in one of our colonies, as an inducement for them to 
settle there. 

An example is given in the founding of the great 
Abbey of Clairvaux by St. Bernard, taken from his 
life in the " Acta Sanctorum " : — " Twelve monks and 
their abbot, representing our Lord and His Apostles, 
were assembled in the Church. Stephen (the abbot 
of the mother house of Citeaux) placed a cross in 
Bernard's hands, who solemnly, at the head of his 
small band, walked forth from Citeaux, * * # * 
Bernard struck away to the northward. For a 
distance of nearly seventy miles he kept his course till 
he arrived at La Ferte. About four miles beyond La 
Ferte was a deep valley opening to the east. Thick 
umbrageous forests gave it a character of gloom and 
wildness ; but a gushing stream of limpid water 
which ran through it was sufficient to redeem every 
disadvantage. In June, a.d. 1115, Bernard took up 
his abode in the Valley of Wormwood, as it was 



6 THE EISE OF MONASTEKIES. 

called, and began to look for means of shelter and 
sustenance against the approaching winter. The rude 
fabric which he and his monks raised with their own 
hands was long preserved by the pious veneration of 
the Cistercians. It consisted of a building covered by 
a single roof, under which chapel, dormitory, and 
refectory were all included. Neither stone nor wood 
hid the bare earth which served for floor. Windows 
scarcely wider than a man's hand admitted a feeble 
light. In this room the monks took their frugal 
meal of herbs and water. Immediately above the 
refectory was the sleeping apartment. It was 
reached by a ladder, and was in truth a sort of loft. 
Here were the monks' beds, which were peculiar ; 
they were made in the form of boxes or bins, of 
wooden planks, long and wide enough for a man to 
lie down in. A small space hewn out with an axe 
allowed room for the sleeper to get in or out. The 
inside was strewn with chaff or dried leaves, which, 
with the wood-work, seem to have been the only 
covering permitted. * # # The monks had thus 
got a house over their heads, but they had got very 
little else. Autumn and winter were approaching, 
and they had no store laid by. Their food during 
summer had been a compound of leaves intermixed 
with coarse grain. Beech-nuts and roots were to be 
the main support during the winter. And then, to 
the privations of insufficient food, was added the 



THE EISE OF MONASTERIES. 7 

wearing out of their shoes and clothes. Their 
necessities grew with the severity of the season, till 
at last even salt failed them, and presently Bernard 
heard murmurs, and the monks requested to be led 
back to Citeaux. But a stranger gave them an alms 
of ten livres, and enabled them to supply their most 
pressing necessities." 

The foundation of Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire, 
the greatest of the Cistercian order in England, has 
.a like history. Some of the monks of the Benedictine 
monastery of St. Mary at York, being dissatisfied 
with the relaxed rule of their house, in 1132 A.D., 
obtained from Thurstan, Archbishop of York, some 
land in Skell-dale, with a rivulet running through it 
from west to east. This spot had never before been 
inhabited except by wild beasts ; being overgrown 
with wood and brambles, lying between two steep 
hills and rocks, covered with wood on all sides, more 
suitable for wild animals than for human beings. 
The prior, sub-prior, and eleven monks made up the 
party from St. Mary's York. Richard the prior was 
chosen abbot, over this monastery of an uncouth 
desert, without house to shelter them in the winter 
season, or even provisions, but entirely dependent on 
Divine providence. In the midst of the vale was a 
huge elm, on which they put some thatch or straw, 
and under that they lay, ate, and prayed. For a time 
the Archbishop supplied them with bread, and they 



8 THE EISE OF MONASTERIES. 

drank the water of the brook. Part of the day some 
spent in the erection of a little oratory, and others 
cleared ground to make a little garden. 

There is a tradition that the monks lived under a 
group of yew trees on the hill-side, until their house 
was built. A century ago were five or six yews still 
growing, of an almost incredible size — the circum- 
ference of the trunk of one of the in being at least 
fourteen feet at about a yard from the ground, and the 
branches in proportion to the trunk. They were 
nearly all of the same bulk, and so near to each other 
as to make an excellent cover, almost equal to that of 
a thatched roof. They perhaps took shelter for a day 
or two under the elm- tree, and soon found out the 
group of yews, to which they removed for the 
better shelter afforded by the thick evergreen foliage, 
till they had completed something more substantial. 

When the winter was past messengers were sent,, 
and also a letter from the Archbishop, to St. Bernard 
of Clairvaux, who sent back one Geoffrey, a monk of 
his own monastery, to instruct these monks of 
Fountains in the Cistercian rale, and caused them to 
build cottages for their cells and offices. Ten priests 
and laymen were also received as novices. Still 
their possessions were not enlarged, they continued 
to receive the Archbishop's allowance, and the year 
proving a scarce one, they were reduced to great 
straits, and were obliged to feed on the leaves of trees 



THE RISE OF MONASTERIES. \) 

and herbs gathered in the fields, boiled with a little 
salt. A stranger coming to beg a morsel of bread at 
this time, the abbot gave him a loaf out of the two 
and a half which were all their store, saying that God 
wonld provide for them. And so he did, for immedi- 
ately two men came from the neighbouring castle 
of Knaresborough with a cart-load of fine-bread, sent 
by Eustace Fitz-Jolm, who had heard of their want. 
For two years they suffered such privations, and 
were on the point of leaving for Clairvaux, when the 
Dean of York, falling sick, ordered himself and all his 
possessions to be carried to the monastery, and being 
wealthy he took relief to the house. Not long after, 
two Canons of York, both rich, devoted themselves and 
all they had to the monastery. From this time lands 
and possessions were given them, and as the monks 
increased in goods, so their numbers were greater 
within. They were skilful and industrious farmers. 
Valleys were drained and became rich pastures for 
cattle ; and the barren commons were soon dotted over 
with sheep ; and where forests had been cleared were 
seen fields of ripening barley and rye. The frugal 
fare and coarse dress of the monks enabled them to 
rapidly augment their revenues, and so they had 
plenty to spare for charity and hospitality, whilst the 
surplus was spent in gradually rearing those magnifi- 
cent buildings whose very ruins are among the 
architectural glories of the land. 



CISTERCIAN MONASTERIES. 



'T'HE sites of all the abbeys of this order appear to* 
have been selected for several reasons, and these 
were all bnt invariably the same ; in the first place,, 
a spot was selected at a distance from towns, in a 
remote and qniet situation, on the banks of a stream,, 
so necessary for the supply of fresh water, and the 
important item of fish to such a community ; and, 
also for the purposes of drainage ; always in a valley, 
and usually in the narrowest part of the valley, so as 
to be as much as possible surrounded by hills, they 
were thus protected and secluded. Perhaps in nc* 
instance were these conditions departed from, or a 
hill chosen for the site in preference to a valley. 

A most remarkable feature of the abbeys erected 
under the Cistercian rule consists in the uniformity 
of the plan upon which they were all built. No- 
doubt there were variations from local causes in the- 
different structures ; but wherever they are found, in 
England, France, or Germany, one uniform plan was, 



CISTERCIAN MONASTERIES. 11 

adopted, the variations where they do occur, being 
such that they go to prove, rather than disprove, 
this assertion. To take Netley as a model plan of a 
Cistercian settlement, we find a central cloister 
quadrangle, surrounded upon its four sides by the 
different conventual buildings. On the north side 
is the monastic church, placed here for one main 
reason, because the magnitude of the structure made 
a shelter from the north winds to the remainder of 
the buildings, which were chiefly residential in their 
character. This running east and west, then formed 
the entire north side of the establishment, and was 
of course, the most important building therein. The 
main features of the churches are that they are 
always built in the form of a cross. The choir was 
short ; the east end usually square (seldom is an apse 
found, though there are instances). The transept 
had no aisles but undeviatingly two or three small 
chapels on the eastern side of either wing, and each 
having its altar and piscina. Many had a portico 
extending the whole of the west front and covering 
the west door, with usually a lean-to roof against the 
west wall. JSTo lofty towers were erected until after 
the rules of the order became relaxed ; only low 
towers of one stage, or wooden bell turrets over the 
crossings. No carving of the human figure was 
permitted during the first two centuries. Stained 
glass was prohibited at first. Only royal personages 



12 CISTERCIAN MONASTERIES. 

or Bishops might be buried in their church.es ; the 
abbots finding a resting place in their chapter house r 
and the brethren in the cloister quadrangle. They 
used pointed arches as their arch, of construction, and 
rounded where only required for purposes of decora- 
tion. Leaving tlie church, at the eastern end of the 
south aisle by a door for the access of the monks; 
from the east walk of the cloisters, we find a narrow 
space between the south end of the transept, and the 
chapter-house. This was usually divided into two 
parts ; one, approached only from the transept, was 
the sacristy or vestiarinm ; and the other, approached 
by a doorway in the east walk of the cloister 
quadrangle, the purpose of which is problematical, 
but it most likely was a penitential cell. Next to 
this was the chapter-house, which after the church, 
was the most important building of the monastery. 
It was approached by a handsome archway, which 
was always open, and not fitted for doors. This was 
divided by either a double, or as here, a triple arcade 
of beautiful pillars and arches, and had a vaulted 
roof. Next to this was, in most monasteries, though 
not at Netley, a passage with a door at either end. 
Its use is doubtful. It has been called the parlour, 
and by others the locutorium, in which the monks 
were allowed to converse when silence was enjoined 
elsewhere, and, when special permission had been 
obtained they might see their friends and relatives, 



CISTERCIAN MONASTERIES. 1$ 

but this is very uncertain. Next to this was another 
passage, most probably the road to the abbot's lodge, 
which was usually placed in the precincts on 
the east side of the conventual buildings proper, 
and by it the abbot could readily reach the 
main parts of the establishment. Lastly, on the 
south-east side, is found the refectory or living 
room of the monks. It stood due north and 
south, extending beyond the other buildings in the 
latter direction. In the early days of the order this 
fratry had no fireplace, and was open to the south, at 
the end, without doors. Over this was the dormitory 
of the monks, approached by a staircase on the out- 
side. Adjoining, still to the south, was the buttery 
and kitchen, and on the same side of the quadrangle 
the porter's lodge, domestic offices, and storerooms. 
On the west side of the quadrangle was a building 
which projected beyond it southward. This no doubt 
was the Domus Conversorum, or house of the lay 
brethren or Conversi, which contained their day-room 
and workroom in the lower part, and in its upper 
story their dormitory. In most of the Cistercian 
monasteries it was the longest of all the buildings and 
occupied the entire west of the quadrangle. There 
was always an approach from this building to the 
west end of the church, and thus the Conversi were 
able to obtain access to that part of the cliurch which, 
they occupied, whilst the Fratri would reach it at 



14 CISTEECIAN MONASTEEIES. 

the east end ; their functions necessarily occupying 
them in the chancel, they had access from their 
dormitory by a second story placed over all the 
buildings between the fratry and the south wall of 
the transept, to which they descended by a flight of 
stairs. This second story contained the library and 
scriptorium. The abbot's lodge, infirmary, and 
abbey mill, were situated as local circumstances 
afforded. 



^♦^•4 



THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. 



TPHE Monks of Netley were a branch of the 
Benedictine order, called Cistercians, from Cis- 
tertium, Cisteaux, or Citeanx, in the bishopric of 
Chalons in Burgundy, where the order began in 1098 
by Robert, abbot of Molesnie in that province, but 
was brought into repute by Stephen Harding, an 
Englishman, third%bbot of Cisteaux, who is there- 
fore reckoned the principal founder. They were 
also called Bernardines from St. Bernard, abbot of 
Clairvaux, or Clareval, in the Diocese of Langres, 
about 1115. Bernard was so ardent a promoter of the 
order, that in an incredibly short space of time it 
became of great repute and corresponding extent. 
So rapid was its progress that before the death of 
St. Bernard, he had founded one hundred and sixty 
monasteries ; and in the space of fifty years from 
its first establishment, it had acquired eight hundred 
abbeys ! They came to England about 1128, and 
founded their first house at Waverley, in Surrey, 



16 THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. 

and at the time of the dissolution they possessed 
thirty- six of the greater and thirty-nine of the lesser 
monasteries ; in addition to the twenty-six Cistercian 
nunneries, of which only one had an endowment 
of £200 a year ; and various cells which were small 
houses belonging to all great abbeys. Sometimes 
these cells were so far distant from one another, that 
the mother abbey was in England, and the child 
cell beyond the seas, and so reciprocally. Some of 
these cells were richly endowed, as that at Wynd- 
ham in Norfolk, which was annexed to St. Alban's, 
and was able at the dissolution to expend of its own 
revenues, £72 per aunum. Into these cells the 
monks of the abbeys sent colonies, when they were 
too much crowded, or when they were afraid of an 
infectious disease at home. 

All the houses of this order were dedicated to the 
Virgin Mary. In 1204 King John founded the Abbey 
of Beaulieu, or Bellus Locus, Charming Place, in the 
New Forest, placing in it thirty monks from Cistercian 
houses. 

The site of Netley was acquired very probably by 
Robert, the first abbot, and his small colony of monks 
from Beaulieu a.d. 1235, but from whom there is 
no trustworthy extant record. 

The name of their new home was derived by chang- 
ing the adjective of the parent monastery Bellus into 
Lcetus, both having cognate significations " Charming 



THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. 17 

Place. " Lcetus, was afterwards compounded with the 
Saxon termination ley t a field or pasture ; hence was 
derived the name Lettly, " cow pasture," since 
corrupted into jSTetley. In Henry the Third's charter, 
it is also called Edwardstow. 

The then Bishop of Winchester, Sir Pierre des 
Roches, or Peter Rock, who died in 1238, no doubt 
sanctioned, if he did not procure or give the land. 
He was a Frenchman, and a soldier of fortune in 
his early days ; and as, by his influence with King 
John, he was enabled to promote many of his 
countrymen to places of emolument ; and further, as 
he recommended that heavy tax upon the English 
Barons which led to the signing of Magna Charta at 
Runnymede, he was generally hated by the English 
nation. He retained his influence over Henry III.,. 
whose tutor he had been ; but his intrigues led to his 
voluntary exile in 1227; and he sought to redeem 
his popularity, and make amends for the mischief 
he had done. In 1251 Henry III. gave a charter 
confirming the grants previously made, as appears 
from the following : — 

Carta Regis Henrici tertii Donatorum Concessiones 
recitans et confirmans. 

" Henricus Dei gratia rex Anglice, dominus 
Hibernia?, dux Normanmee et Aquitanias, et comes 
Andegaviae, archiepiscopis, &c, salutem. Sciatis nos 
pro salute aniinse nostra), et animarum antecessorum 



18 THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. 

•eh snccessoriim nostrorum, concessisse, et hac carta 
nostra connrmasse Deo et ecclesias sanctas Marias de 
loco sancti Edwardi, quam r±os fundavimns in 
Suthamptescir, et abbati et monachis ibidem Deo 
servientibus et servituris, ipsum locum in quo abbatia 
eorum sita est, cum omnibus pertinentiis suis, et cum 
omnibus terris subscripts, videlicet de Lettelege, de 
Hune, de Welewe, de Totinton, de Gumelculne, de 
Nordleg, de Deverell-Kingston, de Waddon, de 
Ayheleg, de Lacton, cum omnibus pertinentiis earum, 
et cum redditibus de Cherleton, de Suthampton, et 
de Suthwerk cum pertinentiis, et c. acras terras in 
manerio de Scliire cum advocatione ecclesiae ejusdem 
manerii. Concessirnus eciam eisdem monachis, et 
confirm a viruus omnes rationabiles donationes terra- 
rum, hominum, et elemosinarum eis vel in praesenti 
a, nobis collatas vel in futuro a regibus vel ex aliorum 
liberalitate conferendas, tarn in ecclesiis quam in rebus 
et possessionibus mundanis, sicut cartas donaturum 
quas inde habent rationabiliter testantur. Quare 
volumus, &c. Datum per manum nostram, apud 
Westmonasterium, septimo die martii, anno regni 
nostri tricesimo quinto. 

(Translation.) 

The Charter of Henry III., reciting and confirming 

the grants of donors. 

Henry, by the grace of God, King of England, Lord 

of Ireland, Duke of Normandy andAquitane and Count 



THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. 19 

of Angou, to the Archbishops, &c, greeting. Know 
ye, that we, for the good of our own soul, as well as 
for those of our ancestors and successors, have granted, 
and by this our charter have confirmed to God and the 
church of St. Mary at Edwardstow, which we founded 
near Southampton, and to the abbot and monks who 
there serve God, the place itself in which their abbey 
is situated, with all its appurtenancies, and with all the 
underwritten lands that is to say of Lettlege, of Hune 
Totenton, of Gumelcune, of Nordley, of Deverell 
Kingstone, of Waddon, of Azelegh, of Lacton, with all 
their appurtenancies, and with the rents of Charleton, 
of Southampton, and of Southwark, with their 
appurtenancies, and one hundred acres of land in the 
manor of Schire, with the advowson of the church of 
the same manor. We have also granted to the same 
monks, and have confirmed to them within reasonable 
limit, all gifts of land, men, and alms either now 
bestowed upon them by us, or which may hereafter 
be conferred on them by kings or the liberality of 
others, so that in their church as well as in their 
private affairs and worldly possessions they may hold 
the gift as our charter reasonably witnesses. W here- 
fore, we desire, &c. Given under our hand, at West- 
minister, the seventh day of March in the thirty fifth 
year of our reign." (a.d. 1251.) 

In 1242 another charter was made, which tells its 
own tale : — 



20 THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. 

Carta Johannis de Warrena Comitis Surregias. 
Omnibus Christi fidelibus ad quos prassens scrip- 
turn pervenerit Johannes de Warrena, comes Surreias, 
filius Willielmi quondam comitis de Warrena, salutem 
in Domino. JSToveritis nos cartam Rogeri de Clere 
inspexisse in hasc verba. Sciant prassentes et futuri 
quod ego Hogerus de Clere dedi, concessi, et hac- 
prassenti carta mei confirmavi, pro me et hasredibus 
meis, abbati et conventui loco Sancti Edwardi, 
Cisterciensis ordinis, totam culturam illam cum 
omnibus pertinentiis suis in manerio de Schire, quas 
se extendit ex orientali parte usque terram dictorum 
abbatis et conventus, manerii de Cumesulne, ex 
occidentali parte usque ad sepem vias vocatam 
Heyrew de Schyre ; ex australi parte usque adregiam 
viam quae est inter Guldeforde et Dorkynge ; ex 
parte aquilonali, usque ad angulum occidentalem 
terras quas vocatur le Sfcapellond, cum tota pastura 
quani habui vel Habere potui infra prasdictas metas ; 
et advocationem ecclesias de Schyre cum omnibus 
pertinentiis suis habendum et tenendum sibi et 
successoribus suis imperpetuum, libere, integre, et 
quiete, in viis, smitis, planis, cum omnibus aliis- 
libertatibus, et liberis consuetudinibus ab omni 
servicio exactione, et sasculari demanda, et secta curias 
ad me vel ad haeredes meos pertinentibus. Pro hac 
autem donatione, concessione, et praesentis cartas 
meae confirmatione, dederunt milii prasdicti abbas et 



THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. 21 

conventus trecentas marcas esterlingorum. Et ego 
dictus Rogerus et haeredes rnei totam praedictam 
culturam terrse cum omnibus pertinentiis suis, et 
praadictani pasturam una cum prsedicta advocatione 
dictae ecclesias de Schyre cum pertinentiis suis dictis 
abbati et conventui et eorum successoribus contra 
omnes homines et feminas warantizabirnus, 
defendemus, et acquictabimus imperpetuum. Ut 
autem hasc mea donatio, concessio, et praesentis cartas 
meas confirmatio rata et stabilis imperpetuum 
perseveret, praesenti scripto sigillum meuni apposui. 
Hiis testibus, TValtero de Cotewrth, Hugone de 
Wydesore, Thoma de Hertemere, Roberto de 
Mekelham, militibus. Thoma de Polesdene, Johanne 
de Hale, Henrico deTTeston,Willielmo de Pollingfonde, 
Willielmo Baynard, Thoma de Haselholte, Johanne 
de Radmore, Martino Kempe, et multis aliis. Actum 
anno gratias millesimo ducentesimo quadragesirno 
tertio in octavis assumptionis beatae Marias. Xos 
igitur prasdictam donationem, &c, confirmamus. Pro 
hac vero ratine atione et prasscriptas cartas confirmat- 
ione, dederunt nobis prasdicti abbas et conventus loci 
sancti Edwardi viginti marcas sterlingorum. Cujus 
rei testimonio prassenti scripto sigillum nostrum 
apposuimus, Hiis testibus, domino Ailmero tunc 
TTynton, electo, Johanne de Gray, Roberto Walerand, 
Waltero de Otterwrth, Hugone de Windesore, 
Roberto de Mihelham, militibus ; Johanne de Hale, 



22 THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. 

Henrico de Weston, et multis aliis. Actum anno 
gratise millesimo ducentesirno quinquagesirno secundo, 
die Epiphanige Domini. 

(Translation.) 
The Charter of John de Warrene, Earl of Surrey. 
To all the faithful in Christ to whom these presents 
shall come, John de Warrene, Earl of Surrey, Son of 
William de Warrene, late Earl, greeting in the Lord. 
Know ye that we have considered the charter of 
Roger de Clere in these words. Let those who now 
live and to come know that I, Roger de Clere, have 
given*, granted, and by this present charter have con- 
firmed, on behalf of myself and my heirs, to the abbot 
and convent of Edwardstow, of the Cistercian 
Order, all that tilled land with all the appurt- 
enancies in the manor of Shere which reaches from 
the eastern part as far as the land belonging to the 
abbot and convent, of the manor of Cunesulne from 
the western part as far as the boundary called 
Shere hedgerow ; from the highway between Guild- 
ford and Dorking ; from the northern corner of the 
land called Stapleland, with all the pasture which I 
had or should have possessed with the prescribed 
boundary ; and also the aclvowson of the church of 
Shere, with all the appurtenancies, to have and to- 
hold to themselves and their successors for ever, 
freely, wholly, and in peace, with rights of way y 
water, plains, with all other liberties, and free service 



THE MONKS OF THE OLDEX TIME. 23 

from any custom, exaction, and secular demand, and 
devoid of any duty to myself or to my heirs. But on 
account of this gift, concession and confirmation of 
my present charter, the said abbot and convent have 
granted three hundred marks sterling, and I, the 
said Roger and my heirs, will for ever make good the 
title and freedom to the said abbot and convent and 
their successors against all claims from any quarter 
of men or women, of the aforesaid meadow land and 
pasture, with the advowson of the said church of 
Shere. And that this my gift, grant, and confir- 
mation of the present deed may be ratified and 
established for ever, I have to these presents affixed 
my hand and seal. 

Wittnesses : — Walter de Cotewrth, Hugo de 
Wydesore, Thomas de Hartemere, Robert de 
Mekelham, Knights; Thomas de Polesdene, Johannus 
de Hale, Henricus de Weston, Willielmus de 
Pollingfonde, Willielmus Baynard, Thomas de 
Haselholte, Johannus de Raduiore, Martin Kempe, 
and many others. 

Done in the year of grace 1243, on the octave of 
the assumption of the Blessed Mary. 

For the true ratification and comfirmation of the 
aforesaid deed, the said abbot and convent of 
Edwardsow have given us twenty marks sterling. 
In testimony whereof we have placed our hand and 
seal to these presents. 



24 THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. 

Witnesses : — Ailinerus, then Lord elect of Wynton,. 
Johannus de Gray, Robertus Walerand, Walterus de- 
Ottewrth, Hugo de Windesor, Robertus de Mihelham r 
Knights ; Johanus de Hale, Henricus de Weston, and 
many others. Done in the year of grace 1243, on 
the clay of the Epiphany of our Lord." 

Amongst other early benefactors were Edward, Earl 
of Cornwall ; Robert Ver, and Walter de Burg, the 
latter of whom invested it with lands, in the county 
of Lincoln, which he held of the king, in Capite, by 
the service of presenting him with a head-piece lined 
with fine linen, and a pair of gilt spurs. 

The mention of " men " in the first charter given, 
implies bondsmen or villeins, and conveys an idea of 
the social condition of the country at the time. They 
were of such servile position, that they passed, as in 
this case, in the same manner as timber and rabbits, 
from one possessor to another with the farms to 
which they belonged. 

At first the Cistercian rule as to fasting and religious 
exercises was exceedingly rigourous : they ate neither 
flesh nor fowl, nor even eggs, butter and cheese they 
might eat only if given to them in alms ; and they 
had only two meals a day besides mixtum, which 
seems to have been an indifferent kind of porridge 
indeed. Every Friday in Lent they had but one mess 
of this throughout the clay. Broth, not of a very 
good kind either, was served out to them in very small 



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THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. 25 

measure. They slept in separate beds in the same 
apartment ; these were made of wooden planks, such 
as are provided for houseless vagrants in some of our 
large towns. They were enjoined to " sleep in their 
clothes, girt with their girdles. Fuller, who gives 
this information, quaintly asks, whether slovenliness, 
is any advantage to sanctity ? and jocosely adds : — 
u This was the way not to make the monks to lie 
alone, but to carry much company about them." 
They never spoke except in the locutory or parlour, 
and even then the conversation was confined to very 
grave subjects. The Cellarer and a few other officials 
only were allowed to give necessary orders, with the 
exception of the teachers of Theology, who were 
permitted to make conversations about their studies. 
If the brethren were on a journey, a few brief words 
were permitted to enable them to obtain salt, bread, 
or other necessaries which they could not procure 
by signs. An offence aganist any of these rules was 
punished as a graver or lighter fault ; in the first case 
receiving discipline (i.e. whipping), having to take 
his meals alone ; after which the vessels he used were 
broken, lying bareheaded and prostrate outside the 
gates of the oratory during the hours of divine service, 
and when at last received again after the term of his 
banishment from the chapter, having to prostrate 
himself on his knees and fingers before every member 
of it, beginning with the abbot himself. For a 



20> THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. 

great offence such as theft, or conspiracy, offenders, 
were excommunicated, yearly, on Palm Sunday, in 
the name of the Trinity, the Virgin Mary, all the 
Saints and the whole order ; this was done with 
lighted candle, when the offender was allowed time- 
to repent whilst it burned, and was then deprived of 
all communion with the church, and its rights and 
privileges. The monks of this order used the- 
Breviary which was originally drawn up under the- 
direction of Pope Gregory VII. in the eleventh 
century, and was a compendium of the devotional 
officies in use at that time, many of which had 
been handed down from remote antiquity. Especi- 
ally it contained the seven hours, or services for the 
seven seasons of the day, viz. matins, soon after 
midnight; prime at 6a.m.; tierce, at 9 a.m.; sext y 
at noon ; nones, at 3 p.m. ; vespers, at 5 p.m., and 
compline, so called because it closed the services, at 
6 p.m. 

They periodically practised phlebotomy, or letting 
of blood ; and there was a regular minutor and assist- 
ants to do this for the monks within the abbey walls. 
With such an amusement, and with abstinence so 
singular and continuous, they did not nevertheless 
escape the satirists of the age. Walter Map 
(erroneously called Mapes) Archdeacon of Oxford in 
the 12th century, ridiculing their not partaking of 
flesh, says, " Pigs they kept, many of them, and sell 



THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. 27 

the bacon, perhaps not all of it ; the heads, legs, and 
feet they neither give nor sell, nor throw away ; 
what becomes of them God knows ; likewise there is 
an account between Grod and them of fowls, which 
they keep in vast quantities." Map did not believe 
■either in the mixtums, perpetual silence, or the seven 
services of the breviary. It is very certain that the 
rigorous rule did not prevent the Cistercian from 
ultimately becoming what the Benedictine monks of 
Clugni had been. " They degenerated from their 
primitive severity of conduct and simplicity of 
manners, and immorality and disorder took the place 
of piety and discipline. " Near the end of the 16th 
century Pope Sixtus IV. greatly relaxed the rules of 
the Cistercian order, and soon after, without any such 
authority, the monks seem to have relaxed a good 
deal more themselves. The Guest Hall was 
generally full, for the hospitality of the abbey was 
large, and, not seldom, a monk would stroll there, 
and often beyond, after compline, to hear how the 
world was moving, and to have a draught of the 
white or sweet wines which were imported from Genoa 
and Venice into the town of Southampton. In the 
eighth year of Edward 1, 1280, the Rolls of Parliament 
record a grant of one tun of red wine a year to the 
abbot of Lettley or Netley. 

In 1288, the bailiffs of the town of South- 
ampton distrained certain "men" of the abbot 



28 THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. 

for payment of toll, upon which two years later an 
action against the bailiffs Robert le Barbur, Robert 
le Mercer, and Peter de Lyons, was tried before the 
Bishop of "Winchester and others at Westminster. 
It appeared that the abbot had gone into the town 
with three of his "men," John Messell, John Griffard, 
and Walter Sakenayl, with some articles for sale, 
which are not specified, bnt are called in general 
46 their merchandises," and that the bailiffs had 
charged them a toll of one hundred shillings. The 
abbot pleaded that by charter of Henry III. and 
confirmation of the present king, his predecessors and 
himself, abbots of ISTetley, and their " men " of 
Soteshall, Walonfolling, Hnn, and Totington had been 
made free of toll throughout the kingdom. The 
bailiffs pleaded that they had a charter of earlier date, 
empowering them to take toll without exception or 
exemption. The case was subsequently heard before 
the king and his council. It was then decided, that 
in all acts of buying and selling for the necessary use 
of the abbot and his people, no tolls should be taken, 
but that this exemption should not extend to them,, 
notwithstanding their charter, if they went into the 
markets like common merchants. 

At the dissolution the annual value of their 
possessions is stated by Dugdale to have been 
£100 Is 8d, and by Speed, £162 2s 9^d ; but ac- 
cording to the return made by the King's Commis- 



THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. 29 

sioners in 1537, which in all probability was correct, 
being made by authority, it was £146 3s Id. This, 
according to the relative value of money, would now 
represent £1826 18s 6|d ; sufficient to have afforded 
a competent subsistence for a community not more 
numerous, especially as they could raise all the 
necessaries of life on land of their own. 

In 1250 King Henry gave the monks of Netley a 
charter for holding a market at Hound, and a fair at 
Wellow, with privilege of free warren in their other 
manors. In the next year he gave them further 
right of market at Wellow. The display of merchan- 
dise and conflux of customers at these principal and 
almost only emporia of domestic commerce was 
prodigious. It was intended as a source of revenue. 
At certain distances officers were placed at bridges 
and avenues of access to the fairs and markets, and 
exacted toll for all goods passing that way. Mean- 
while all shops were closed. In the fair, streets 
were formed, and assigned to the sale of various 
commodities. They were called Drapery, Pottery, 
Spicery, &c. 

The immediate localities of these ruins exactly 
correspond with the observations made upon the 
taste displayed by the earlier Cistercian monks in 
their choice of a situation. A copious stream to the 
south, a moderate expanse of meadow and pasture 
around, an amphitheatre of sheltering hills, clad in 



30 THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. 

the verdant covering of their native woods, throwing 
an air of gloom and solemnity over the scene, well 
suited to excite religions emotion. The waters that 
glide silently in the midst, afford to the recluse a 
striking emblem of human life ; at the same time 
soothing his mind by a gentle murmuring, and 
leading it to serious thoughts by its continuous and 
irrevocable lapse. 

THE RUINS. 
The visitor to the Abbey will find as much to 
delight him in the ruins of art as in the fresh- 
ness and luxuriance of nature. It stands on the 
declivity of a hill, rising gently from the water, but 
so environed by beautiful woody scenery as to be 
almost secluded from observation. It is a ruin — a 
storied pile, with venerable ivy, and columns of 
scrupulous architecture — an object which greets us 
with the solemnity of a spectre. We have wandered 
for hours amid its fallen walls and fragments of the 
mason's ancient skill, until the image has haunted 
our mind, and would not be driven away from it. 

To be appreciated and enjoyed, the ruins of Netley 
Abbey must be seen, for they defy alike both pen and 
pencil. No " tinkling lyret tuned in ladye bower " 
can awake the chords which sing mournfully to the 
unseen winds in the sweet desolation of the place — 
when no giggling sound of unworthy visitor or 



THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. 31 

simpering sentimentality jar on the ear and the 
feelings. Through the west door of 

THE CHURCH 
we enter the nave, which is a good example of the 
Transitional Norman period, affording an example of 
simple character for imitation in ecclesiastical archi- 
tecture. It was originally built of Isle of Wight 
stone, shell limestone from the tertiaries of Binstead, 
probably given by the monks of Quarr ; Caen stone 
was used for the interior, and Purbeck marble for 
the shafts and corbels, and mortar composed of lime 
and gravel, the latter used in its rough state as it 
came from the pit. On entering, the effect is very 
impressive, but being shorn of its north transept and 
nave pillars, the symmetry of the plan is destroyed. 
In the plan (at end) the position of the pillars in the 
nave is shewn, and the symmetrical beauty of the 
original structure is apparent. It has been sup- 
posed, and this church confirms the supposition, that 
Gothic churches and cathedrals were usually pro- 
portioned agreeably to the mysterious figure called 
the "Vesica Piscis,*" shown on page 25 — a 
pointed oval or egg-shaped form, made by the inter- 



* This name was given to a symbolical representation of Christ. The 
actual figure of a fish found on the sarcophagi of the early Christians, 
gave way in course of time to this oval- shaped ornament, which was 
the most common symbol used in the middle ages. It is to be met with 
sculptured, painted on glass, in ecclesiastical seals, &c. The aureole, or 
glory, in pictures of the Virgin, &c, was frequently made of this form. 



32 THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. 

section of two equal circles cutting each, other in 
their centres. In this instance, by the application of 
the figure as shewn, not only is the length of the 
entire building proportioned to its width, but the 
minor parts are proportioned to each other on the 
same principle. The west window of the church, 
though despoiled of its tracery, still forms an im- 
posing object. Near the entrance door on the south 
side are some traces of dilapidated brickwork, with 
stone dressings, enclosing several small areas or 
apartments, being the remains of additions made by 
its occupants on converting the monastery into a 
dwellinghouse. From the west door to the transept 
there was a succession of eight bays, divided by broad 
and shallow pilasters, and an equal number of lights. 
There was a gallery over the arches, inappropriately 
in architecture called the Triforium, and above this 
the Clearstory windows, each of three lancet-headed 
lights, with a trefoil head, surrounding the middle 
lancet, all enclosed with a deeply recessed arch. 
Over the transept was originally the tower, but 
no record has been left of its height. Both in 
the north and south transepts were chapels or 
chantries, but of these also are left nothing to trace 
their history. On entering the south transept, the 
ancient splendour of Netley is apparent on viewing 
the impressive, though mutilated, remains of its 
church. Not many years since, a part of the elegant 



THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. 33 

roof of this transept was to be seen ornamented with, 
various armorial insignia, supposed to be those of the 
benefactors of the Abbey. Among them was a 
pelican vulning its breast (the favourite device of 
Bichard Fox, Bishop of Winchester from 1501 to 
1529), a pheon's head, and a fesse dancettee between 
five palettes, two and two, but these have all 
disappeared. Within the wall of the east corner, 
adjoining the nave, is a spiral stone staircase that 
leads to the upper portion of the building : it is said 
to have been surmounted with a turret and pinnacles 
serving as a mark for seamen. 

The church was built in the form of a cross ; it 
was about two hundred and eleven feet in length, 
and in breadth fifty-seven feet; the extent of the 
transepts, when entire were one hundred and twenty 
feet ; the north transept and several of the windows 
of the north side are destroyed. 

The chancel inclines towards the south, a plan 
observable in many cruciform churches ; it is said to 
indicate the inclination of our Saviour's head on that 
side when on the cross. 

In the chancel was a four-light, lancet headed 
window, above which were two quatrefoil openings 
and an octagonal light at the top. A credence table 
and piscina also remain, but have been sadly 
mutilated by wanton and thoughtless visitors. 

The east window yet retains its tracery. The 



34: THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. 

great west window retains only part of the arch ; the 
shafts are gone. Under is the archway of the western 
door, flanked externally by massive buttresses. The 
irregular form of the ground, the trees and under- 
growth that have sprung up within its ivy-mantled 
walls, add much to the effect of the ruins, imparting 
alike, a pleasurable and interesting study to the 
antiquary, the poet, and the lover of the picturesque. 

Old Lord Hertford fitted up the nave as a tennis- 
court (a kitchen the tale generally runs), reserving 
the choir for a private chapel. 

The door at the centre of the transept leads to the 

SACKISTY, 
adjoining which is what we have already conjectured 
was the penetential cell. Immediately on the right 
was 

THE CHAPTER HOUSE, 
divided from the refectory by the passage leading to 
the abbot's lodge. It was the council room where all 
important deliberations were held and all the business 
of the monastery transacted. Here, too, the young 
novice, desirous of being admitted as one of the order, 
was asked what he required, and answered, " The 
mercy of God and yours." When the abbot explained 
to him the austerities to which he would be subjected, 
and the young man still demanded admittance, " God 



THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. 35 

finish what He hath begun in thee," said the Abbot, 
and all the Chapter said " Amen." Here again, at 
the end of his year's novitiate, he received his 
tonsure, and made distribution of his property, and if 
he happened to retain any money or effects for his 
private use, it was here he came to receive sentence 
of punishment for the " graver fault." It is about 
thirty-two feet square ; the groining was supported 
by four central pillars and by brackets in the wall. 
It was lighted by pointed windows. A dais, or raised 
seat, was carried round three sides, whereon the 
abbot and his monks sat during trials and for the 
transaction of their affairs ; and here, too, they 
probably sat during their own trial before the Com- 
missioners, and in this apartment signed the deed of 
surrender. The floor was paved with Roman tiles 
figured with the fleur-de-lis. 

Over the chapter house was the 

LIBRARY AND SCRIPTORIUM, 
where the books and illuminated manuscripts were 
written and kept by the accomplished monks of the 
middle ages, to whose labours we owe much. Leland 
states that at the time of the dissolution there was 
only one MS. in the Library, the Rhetorica Ciceronis. 
But we think this must be a mistake, for the 
monasteries possessed a prodigious number of very 
valuable manuscripts. It was said, that there were 



36 THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. 

more in England than any other country of equal 
size. When the abbeys were sold or given to his 
favourites by Henry VIII. the new owners destroyed 
and wasted them all. Many of the old manuscript 
Bibles were cut in pieces to cover pamphlets. In 1549 
John Ball made the following lamentation and com- 
plaint to King Edward VI. : — " A number of those 
persons who bought the monasteries, reserved of the 
library thereof, for the meanest purposes, some to scour 
their candlesticks ; and some to rub their boots ; some 
they sold to the grocers and soap-sellers ; and some 
they sent over sea to the bookbinders, not in small 
numbers, but at times, whole ships' full. Even the 
universities of this realm were not all clear in this 
detestable fact. I know a merchantman that bought 
the contents of two libraries for forty shillings price. 
The stuff thereof he hath occupied, instead of grey 
paper, by the space of more than these ten years; 
and yet he hath store enough for as many years to 
come. Our posterity may well curse this wicked 
fact of our age, this unreasonable spoil of England's 
most noble antiquities." 

The fine collection of MSS. belonging to the 
Cathedral church of Durham, was saved by being 
concealed within one of the pillars of the church. 

Dr. Dee presented a supplication, the original of 
which is now in the cotton library, to Queen Mary, 
in 1556, for the recovery and preservation of ancient 



THE MONKS OF THE ODDEN TIME. 37 

-writers and monuments ; but there was no attention 
■o-iven to it. We, however, learn from it, that, 
Tully's work, Be Republica, was once extant in this 
kingdom, and perished at Canterbury. Cardinal 
Pole told Roger Ascham, that he had been informed 
that this work of Cicero was in Poland, and that he 
had sent a man on purpose thither at the expense of 
a thousand golden crowns, about £900 sterling, in 
search of it, but to no purpose. 

Leaving the chapter house, and passing the entrance 
to the abbot's lodge we come to 

THE REFECTORY, 
which the monks entered by a door at the south-east 
corner of the quadrangle. It extended due north and 
south, and after the church and chapter house was 
the finest of the monastic buildings, and usually very 
elegant in architectural details. Its size is about 
seventy-nine feet by twenty-five feet ; the groined 
ceiling was supported in the centre by a range of 
four circular pillars. Since its first erection, the 
dining hall has been divided into two apartments by 
a wall of masonry, embedded in which was found, 
about forty years ago, the base and part of the shaft 
of one of the pillars, as fresh as though it had just 
come from the mason's hands. The profile of the 
base moulding was similar to those of the church 
pillars. The division wall might have been 



38 THE MONKS OF THE OLDEX TIME. 

introduced towards the dissolution of the abbey r 
when the number of inmates was much reduced. 
There is a fireplace in the smaller apartment, which 
was evidently formed at the time the alterations were 
made after the suppression, bricks being used in its 
construction. It has been a matter of some surprise 
that the dining-hall should have been without a 
fireplace, no remains of one being apparent, but, on 
minute examination of the masonry in the west side 
wall, there is to be seen the masonry of an old hooded 
flue, similar to that of the kitchen, the projecting 
part of which has been cut off, and the fireplace and 
flue filled in and plastered over. Level with the 
corbels, all round the room where the plastering is 
perfect, a frescoed band about Q.ve inches wide is to- 
be seen, except the part above alluded to, where no 
frescoed band exists, evidently proving that that 
part was filled in since the original occupation of the 
room. In the refectory was probably written up in 
some conspicuous place, the celebrated Cistercian 
motto, taken from St. Bernard : — 

" Bonum est nos hie esse, quia homo vivit purius, 
cadit rarius, surgit velocius, incedit cautius, quiescit 
securius, moritur felicius, purgatur citius, premiatur 
eopiosius." The sentence has been beautifully 
translated by Wordsworth : — 

11 Here man more purely lives, less oft doth fall, 
More promptly rises, walks with stricter heed ; 



THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. 39 

More safely rests, dies happier ; is freed 
Earlier from cleansing fires, and gains withal 
A brighter crown." 

THE DORMITORY 
was over the refectory ; its entrance was on the 
south-west by a flight of steps from the lavatory in 
that position of the quadrangle. As was usual 
among the Cistercians the sleeping apartment had no 
divisions, and was, as elsewhere described, but very 
scantily furnished. On the south side of the refectory, 
was the buttery and 

THE KITCHEN, 
now one of the most attractive parts of the ruin. 
The earliest fireplace in this country dates from the 
twelfth century, to which this example bears a 
striking resemblance. The brackets in the corners 
are supposed to have been for lights. The kitchen 
is about fifty feet long by eighteen feet six inches 
wide, independent of the enclosed spaces adjoining 
the south wall. These enclosed spaces give some 
probability to the supposition, that the drain from 
the fish-ponds, which runs immediately under, might 
have formed also a secret passage way. The enclosed 
spaces have no connection with the ground floor, but 
there is a small door in the corner of the dormitory 
over the kitchen, which has a direct communication 



40 THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. 

down to the drain. To make the drain more conven- 
ient for the pnrpose of a secret passage, a hatch 
might have been introduced at this point to pen back 
the surplus water of the ponds ; and indeed, there 
are indications, by cuttings in the masonry, that such 
was the case. This hatch, also, at other times, might 
have answered another purpose, that of penning back 
the fish, by which the monks were enabled to supply 
their table without passing out of the gates, or the 
cook without moving from the kitchen. Considering 
the troubled times in which the monks occupied the 
abbey, it is, perhaps, not stretching the imagination 
too far, to give them credit for such precautions- 
Adjoining the kitchen was 

THE BUTTERY 
from which the dinners could be conveniently passed, 
without subjecting the inmates of the hall to the 
annoyance of smell from the kitchen, the aperture 
being fitted with a door on each side, the rebates 
for which are still existing. The porter's lodge and 
Domus Conversorum, comprising the remaining part 
of the south and the west sides have already been 
described. 

THE ABBOT'S LODGE, 
at the eastern end of the grounds was most probably 
built for the accommodation of the monks on their 



THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. 41 

first colonising the spot. It probably covered more 
ground than now. So little remains that it is 
difficult to assign names to the several appartments. 
The largest may have been the hall, of which the 
groined roof may be noticed, and the rooms over, 
from the superior finish of mouldings, were evidently 
the principal apartments. The small room at the 
south-east, having a buttery hatch, was probably the 
dining room, and the part immediately adjoining, 
the kitchen. 

" Such is the dwelling grey and old, 

Which in some world- worn mood, 
The youthful poet dreamed would suit 

His future solitude ; 
If the old abbey be his search 

He might seek far and near, 
Ere he could find a Gothic cell 

More lorn and lone than here. 

Long years have darkened into time 

Since vespers here were sung, 
And here has been no other dirge 

Than what the winds have sung. 
And now the drooping ivy wreaths 

In ancient clusters fall ; 
And moss o'er each device hath grown 

Upon the sculptured wall." 

Among the minor buildings were the : — 
Cerarium, a repository for ^vax candles. 



42 THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. 

Almonry, where relief was dispensed. 

Sanctuarium, where debtors took refuge from their 
creditors, and malefactors from the judge. Here 
they could live in security. 

Stables at some distance from the Abbey. They 
were under the charge of the Stallarius and the 
Provendarius. They kept horses of four kinds : — 
Manni, geldings for the saddle. 
Runcini nuts, small nags. 
Summarily sumpter horses. 
Averri, cart, or plough horses. 

There was a prison for incorrigible monks. 

Vaccisterium, a cow house. 

Porcarium, the pig-sty. 

Granges. 

After a survey of the old ruins, our thoughts 
naturally turn to past times and pictures of the 
abbey in all its former splendour and magnificence, 
when with their wonted pomp and ceremony the 
monks inhabited it, and performed their daily offices. 

The Jibb-Crt was the superior of every abbey, and 
was generally called the Lord Abbot. His election 
was attended with much ceremony, and according to 
the chronicle of Jocelyn, who was himself a monk, the 
appointment was often made without any regard to 
fitness or character. The dissolution of monastic 
institutions deprived twenty-six abbots and two 
priors of their seats and votes in the House of Lords. 



THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. 43 

Netley — the abbots whose names are recorded 
were : — 

Robert ... ... ... 1235 

Walter ... ... ... 1290 

The abbot of Netley was summoned 
to Parliament in the years 

1295, 1296, 1300, and 1302 
Henry de Inglesham, ... ... 1371 

John Stelhard, ... ... 1374 

Philip de Cornhampton, ... 1387 

John de Gloucester, ... ... 1396 

In the following year he was appointed abbot of 
Beaulieu, in the room of Richard de Middleton, who 
had been chosen to that office in 1394, but, in 
consequence of irregularity of election, or some other 
cause, he was deposed. 

Richard de Middleton, 1396. 

This was probably the date of his appointment, and 
in 1400 (perhaps on the death of John de Gloucester) 
he was restored to the abbacy of Beaulieu. 

In 1469 the town of Southampton purchased " a 
grove of wood " from an abbot of Netley, for 53s 4d 
in order to make piles by the sea-side. 

John Barges (was abbot) ... 1503 

Thomas Stevens ... ... 1527 

He was one of the first of those who signed, by 
his proxy, (the abbot de Gracis, then in London,) 
the instrument in favour of the divorce between 



44 THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. 

Henry VIII. and Catherine of Arragon, his Queen. 
He was probably, the last abbot of Netley. 

The SjPrior was next in dignity, and in the absence 
of the abbot acted as his substitute. The prior was 
the principal where there was no abbot. 

The <§ttb-|3ricrr, in like manner, assited the abbot, 
whose especial duty it was to observe the conduct of 
the monks. 

Under these there were generally six officers, as 
follow : — 

ffixllerarnt0, or the cellerar, who had the duty of 
providing for the meals, and was considered the 
" second father " of the convent. Fuller says that 
these officers affected secular gallantry and wore 
swords like lay gentlemen. 

Jftagt0ter ©pxrt0, or the master of the fabric, 
who probably looked after the buildings, and had 
them kept in good repair. 

@Ie^mxr0gnanU0, or the almoner, whose duty it 
was to distribute daily the alms at the gate, and the 
various anniversary donations of the monastery. 

$itatttiaritt0, who distributed to the members of 
the monastery a portion of victuals over and above 
the common provision upon great festivals. 

<Saxri0tait, or vestry-keeper, who had charge, of 
the sacramental plate, and received the fees and 
oblations made at the high altar, and other altars 
and images in the church. He had also to provide 



THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. 45 

the bread and wine for the celebration of mass. 

®amerarilt0, or the chamberlain, who had to 
provide things necessary for clothing, bedding, &c. r 
and to see to the cleanliness and shaving of the monks. 

Besides these officers there were : — ■ 

(EhartttlarittS and his assistants transcribed : — 

i. — The ordinals, containing the rubric of the 
missal, and directory for the priests at service. 

ii. — Consnetudinals presenting the ancient customs 
of their convents. 

iii. — Collectaries in which ecclesiastical collects 
were fairly written. 

Besides they transcribed the works of the early 
Fathers, the Greek and Latin Classics, and recorded 
historical events. 

c 3[h^0attrin0, or the bursar, who received all the 
common rents, and revenues of the monastery, and 
paid all the common expenses. 

JRajister £Lobitxoxnm. — The master of the 
novices, took charge of all the youths who were to be 
brought up as monks. These were taken from 
various ranks of life, but poverty was often a cause 
of rejection, while noble birth and opulence obtained 
the preference. 

JUftctimtariua. — The refectioner had the super- 
intendence of matters connected with the dining-room,, 
and oversight of the cooks ; he also took charge of 
cups, salts, ewers, and all the silver utensils except 



46 THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. 

the church plate. 

Srtft nit arms had charge of the sick, and made the 
necessary preparations for the burial of the dead. 

JprtCtttor, or chanter, had control of the choral 
services ; he had also the custody of the seal and 
k:ept the liberdiumalis, or chapter book. He provided 
parchment and ink for the writers, and colours for 
the limners of books for the library. 

^00pitilariU0, or host, saw that strangers were 
well entertained, and provided fires, napkins, towels, 
and such like necessaries for them. 

JfattttOT, or porter, kept the gates duly watched to 
prevent the admission of any improper character, and 
io see to the timely going in and out of the young. 

(StftlUtariuS, attended to the stores and garners. 

DtfttamS, looked after the swine. 

In addition to these there were : — A servant to sweep 
the chambers and to see to the cleanliness of the 
napery, the Orcharder, the Butler, the Larder-keeper, 
the Baker, the Sub-Baker, and the Basket-keeper. 

Several of the latter officers were found only in 
larger institutions. In the monastery of Clugni, the 
bakers were officially " forbidden to sing psalms, like 
other monks, when at work, lest any saliva should 
fall into the dough." 

THE MONK'S HABIT. 
The shaping of the hair into certain forms with 



THE ilOXKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. 47" 

the scissors and razor was deemed emblematical of 
the Saviour's crown of thorns, and significant of 
humility. This latter virtue is more especially marked 
when the head is entirely shorn as represented in the 
plate, page 48, of a Cistercian monk. At their separa- 
tion from the Benedictines, they assumed a white habit,. 
to distinguish them from that order, the monks of 
which wore black, hence the Cistercians were called 
White Monks. Over the white cassock was a narrow 
scapulary, a piece of cloth hanging low, both before 
and behind ; and over that was a black gown when 
they went abroad, but when they officiated in church 
they put on a large white cowl with great sleeves,, 
and a hood of the same colour. 

As a monastery Xetley Abbey existed for about 
three centuries, and during the whole of that period 
it may be questioned whether it attracted a tithe of 
the attention that its ruins do now. In 1537, Henry 
VIII. granted the site of the Abbey, together with 
the farm aud manor of Hound, to Sir William 
Paulet, who was created Earl of Wiltshire in 1550, 
and Marquis of Winchester 'in the following year. 
He is said to have been a man of talent and learning, 
and was clever and supple enough, notwithstanding 
the changeful times, to hold the office of Lord High 
Treasurer during the reigns of Henrv VIII., Edward 
VI., Mary, and Elizabeth. When asked how he had 
kept his post through so many changes of Govern- 



48 THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. 

ment, his reply was that he was " No oake, but an 
osier," which has been construed as meaning pliancy 
of conduct. But Lodge, in his " Portraits of Illus- 
trious Personages of Great Britain," gives a different 
meaning to the sentence, and which he has quoted 
from the following lines on long life, said to have 
been the composition of the Marquis : — 

" Late supping I forbear ; 
Wine and women I forswear ; 
My neck and feet I keep from cold ; 
No marvel, then, though I be old. 
I am a willow, not an oak ; 
I chide, but never hurt with stroke." 

Lodge construes the two last lines as implying his 
command of temper — " I corrected mildly with a 
willow twig, and not by an oaken cudgel " — an in- 
genious conjecture, but not altogether satisfactory. 
He died at the age of ninety- seven. 

Netley passed from this nobleman, probably by 
purchase, to the Earldom of Hertford and Barony 
of Beauchamp. Edward Seymour, heir to these 
titles, whose father, the Duke of Somerset, was 
beheaded in the reign of Edward VI., was deprived 
of it while a minor, by an act passed in the sixth 
year of that reign, by which lands of great value 
reverted to the crown ; but, in the first year of the 
reign of Queen Elizabeth, his titles and possessions 
were restored. About two years after, in the month 




CISTERCIAN MONK. 



THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. 49 

of August, 1560, Queen Elizabeth visited the Earl 
at his residence, then called Netley Castle, as 
appears from an entry in the register of St. Michael's 
Church, Southampton : — 

"The quenes majesties grace cam from the castle 
of Netley to Southampton the xiij day of August, 
and from thence she went to Wynchester the xvj 
day." 

Not long after this the Earl incurred Elizabeth's 
displeasure, through privately marrying Catherine 
Grey, sister of the amiable and lamented Lady 
Jane. Catherine was committed to the Tower, her 
husband was summoned home from France, and on 
his arrival was sentenced by the Star Chamber to 
nine years' imprisonment, and a fine of £15,000. 
Catherine was kept in prison until her death, January 
26th, 1567. The marriage was afterwards found 
valid, and proved at common law. 

It was to this sister that the accomplished Lady 
Jane Grey, addressed, shortly before her execution 
for aspiring to the crown, through the ambition of 
her parents, in the blank leaves of a Greek Testa- 
ment, and in the same language, an invaluable 
letter, from which the following is an extract : — 

" I have sent you, my dear sister Catherine, a 
book, which, although it be not outwardly trimmed 
with gold, yet is inwardly more worth than all the 
precious mines which the vast world can boast of. 



50 THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. 

If you with a good mind read it, and with, an 
earnest desire follow it, no doubt it shall bring you 
to an immortal life. It will teach you to live and to 
die. It shall win you more and endow you with 
greater felicity than you should have gained by our 
woful father's lands. Trust not that the tenderness 
of your age shall lengthen your life ; for to God, 
when he calieth, all hours, times, and seasons are 
alike, and blessed are they whose lamps are furnished 
when He cometh. Be penitent for your sins, and 
yet despair not ; be strong in faith, yet presume 
not. Seeing you have the name of a Christian, 
follow as near as you can the steps, and be a true 
imitator of your master, Christ Jesus." 

The Earl of Hertford was afterwards twice 
married, and was also again taken into the Queen's 
favour. His grandson, William, succeeded him in the 
title and estates, and became governor of the young 
Prince of Wales, son of Charles L, who conferred on 
this Earl the title of Marquis, and who was restored 
to the family title, Duke of Somerset, by Charles II. I 
He was the second possessor of Netley who incurred 
Royal displeasure for marrying a relative of the 
sovereign without consent. He married Lady | 
Arabella Stuart, a near relative of James I., was com- J 
mitted by him to the Tower, and James confined the 
lady to her house at Highgate. In 1611 the husband 
escaped to Dunkirk, but Arabella attempting to 



THE MONKS OF THE OLDEX TIME. 51 

follow, was overtaken, and sent to her husband's 
late prison. The separation from her husband, 
to whom she was devotedly attached, and other 
afflictions, produced an effect on her mind, which 
brought her to an early grave in 1516. 

Towards the end of the following century it 
became the property of the Earl of Huntingdon. This, 
the seventh Earl, was Theophilus, father-in-law of the 
famous Selina,-the foundress of the body of Calvinistic 
Methodists known as "Lady Huntingdon's Connex- 
ion." It is said he converted the nave of the church into 
a kitchen and offices, but reserved the chancel in the 
east to sacred uses. This is an improbable statement, 
as the monks' kitchen was in condition for use when 
the abbey was occupied as a private residence, and 
there is not a vestige of a flue in the nave. Lord 
Charles Seymour, second baron of Trowbridge was 
born at the Abbey, and baptized in the choir of the 
Abbey, 1665. 

In 1700 Sir Barkeley Lucy possessed the Abbey 
and disposed of some of the materials to Mr. Walter 
Taylor of Southampton, who, it is said, intended 
using them for the erection of a town-house at 
Newport, and dwelling-houses at other places. An 
accident which befel him in consequence of this 
purchase, and which afterwards terminated in his 
death, was commonly regarded as a judgment in- 
flicted by Heaven, for his presumed guilt, in under- 



52 THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. 

taking to destroy a sacred edifice. Browne Willis's 
narrative, though no doubt erroneous, may be given, 
as it shows the superstitious tendencies with which 
our great-grandfathers, and grandmothers too, were 
imbibed. He relates that after Taylor had made his 
contract, some of his friends observed in conversation 
that they would never be concerned in the demolition 
of holy and consecrated places. These words im- 
pressed his memory so strongly, that, he dreamed 
that, in taking down the abbey, the keystone of the 
arch over the east window fell from its place and 
killed him. He related this dream to Mr. Watts 
(father of the sacred poet, Dr. Isaac Watts), who 
advised him not to have any personal concern in 
pulling down the building : yet this advice being in- 
sufficient to deter him from assisting in the work, 
the creations of sleep were unhappily realised ; for, 
on endeavouring to remove some boards within the 
east window, to admit air to the workmen, a stone 
fell and fractured his skull. The fracture was not 
thought mortal ; but, in the operation of extracting 
a splinter, the unskilfulness of the surgeon allowed 
the instrument to penetrate the brain, and caused 
immediate death. Many received this as a visita- 
tion on him, for what they considered a sacrilegious 
attempt, and the superstitious gloom which the oc- 
currence engendered, had an evident tendency in pre- 
serving to the present day these venerable relics of 



THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. 53 

the piety, architectural skill, and munificence of its 
founders and benefactors. 

Mr. Clif t afterwards became the owner, by whom the 
ruins were sold to Mr. Dummer, of Woolston House. 
The widow of the latter married Mr. Dance, an artist 
of some repute, who subsequently took the name and 
title of Sir Nathaniel Holland, Bart. The abbey 
afterwards became the property of William Cham- 
berlayne, Esq., M.P. for Southampton, from 1818 to 
1829. From him it came into the possession of his 
nephew Thomas Chamberlayne, Esq., and is now 
owned by Tankerville Chamberlayne, Esq., of 
Cranbury Park. 

A specimen of the glass that once decorated the 
windows of Netley still exists. It is in the entrance 
hall of the Hartley Institution, Southampton, to 
which it was presented by the late Mr. John Bullar. 
There are six squares, eighteen inches by nine inches, 
representing the following subjects : — 

1. — A monk kneeling, apparently in one of the 
courts ; supplicating that his monastery may be 
saved from fire, part of which seems to be in flames ; 
a vision of our Lord on the Cross is seen in the air. 

2. — The Crucifixion. Our Lord's mother and the 
beloved disciple St. John on the right and left, the 
apostle holding a book closed and clasped. 

3. — The coronation of the Virgin Mary by two 
^angels. 



54 THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. 

4.— The meeting of the Virgin Mary and her 
cousin Elizabeth, mother of St. John Baptist. 

5. — Our Saviour laid in the arms of his mother. 

6. — An abbot robed in a flowing garment, bordered 
with gold, with a mitre on his head and a crosier 'in 
his hand, holding, in a band, with a collar marked 
with crosses, an animal of the dragon kind as 
depicted in heraldry. 

Some other small pieces are preserved in the 
casement. The accompaniments to the above 
subjects form a striking picture of the low and 
degenerate state of the religions sentiments of the 
times. On one of the diamond panes is represented 
a fox transfixed with an arrow, which has cut off 
one of its paws ; another fox slinking off with its tail 
between its legs. In another place, two fabulous 
representations of animals are given, and a boar with 
a yoke or triangle round its neck, such as is used to 
prevent unruly swine from breaking through hedges. 

SEALS. 
There are three ancient seals of the abbey, two of 
the largest being appendant to a deed, dated 3rd 
Edward III., a.d. 1330. One is the abbot's seal, 
representing an abbot holding a book in one hand 
and a crosier in the other, with this inscription 
abbreviated : — " Sigillum Abbatis Loci Sancti Ed- 
war di,"— (The seal of the Abbot of St. Edward's- 



THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. 55 

Place). The other is very much mutilated, and 
represents an abbot with two monks on each side of 
him ; it bears the inscription : — " S' Commune Abbis 
Loci Sci Edwardi de Lettelye " — (The common seal 
of the Abbot of St. Edward's Place, at Letley.) The 
small seal represents the Virgin and child, and St. 
Edward with uplifted hands kneeling before them. 
Another small seal has a somewhat similar inscrip- 
tion — " S' Beate Marie de Stowe Sci Edwardi — 
Sigillum Beate Marie de Stowe Sancti Edwardi " — 
(The seal of the Blessed Mary of St. Edward's 
Place.) 

No quotation is more popular in connection with 
the dismantled, but picturesque remnant of Netley 
Abbey, than the lines of the late Rev. W. L. Bowles, 
Canon of Salisbury, who was distinguished in the 
annals of literature, not only by a great many 
excellent works, but especially by his " Essay on the 
Poetical Character of Pope," which caused the 
" Pope and Bowles Controversy," in the years 1819 
to 1828, and in which Lord Byron and Campbell 
entered the lists against him. His sonnet on the 
abbey possesses great beauty : — 

" Fall'n pile ! I ask not what has been thy fate, — 
But when the weak winds, wafted from the main, 
Through each lone arch, like spirits that complain, 
Come hollow to my ear, I meditate 
On this world's passing pageant, and the lot 



.56 THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. 

Of those who once might proudly in their prime 
Have stood, with giant port ; till, bow'd by time 

Or injury, their ancient boast forgot, 
They might have sunk, like thee : tho' thus forlorn, 

They lift their head, with venerable hairs 
Besprent, majestic yet, and as in scorn 

Of mortal vanities and short-lived cares : 
Even so dost thou, lifting thy forehead grey, 
Smile at the tempest, and time's sweeping sway." 

An interesting brass, nineteen feet square was 
taken from the abbey. On it were sculptured a man 
and woman kneeling ; the man saying, " Unum pecii 
a Domino requiram," (Ps. xxvii., 4) ; the woman's 
scroll running, " Tibi dixit cor meum requisivit te 
facies mea faciem tuam Domine requiram," (Ps. xxvii., 
8). On the brass, a naming cresset, or beacon, is 
repeated four times, and the legend, " So have I cause," 
six times. The reporters of the discovery add that 
the beacon is the crest of the Bekingtons and 
Comptons ; and that a daughter of Francis, Earl of 
Huntingdon, was married to Sir Heury Compton. 

Among the heraldic and other insignia noted on 
the stones and glass taken from the abbey is the 
escutcheon of a cross fleury between martlets, possibly 
in allusion St. Edward. The favourite device of 
Bishop Fox, a pelican, has been observed. In 
Winchester Cathedral some of the encaustic tiles 
are preserved. 



REFERENCE TO THE GROUND PLAN. 



A The Nave of the Church, with Aisles North and South. 

B The Crossing ; a space under the Tower, at the intersec- 
tion of the Nave and transepts. 

C North and South Transepts. 

D Transeptal Chapels. 

E The Chancel and Choir. 

F The Sacristy. 

G The Penitential Cell. 

H The Chapter House. 

1 The Passage from the Quadrangle to the Abbot's Lodge. 

J The Cloister Quadrangle, here sometimes called the 
Fountain Court. 

K The Cloisters. 

L The Refectory. 

M The Buttery, with hatch to the Refectory. 

N The Kitchen. 

O Domus Conversorum. 

P Buildings, the destination of which is uncertain ; probably 
the Infirmary, Gardrobes and Porter's Lodge. The 
present erections were built in the reign of Queen 
Elizabeth. 

Q The Gate. 

R Stream from the Fish Ponds. 

S The Garden. 

T The Abbot's Lodge. 

ERRATUM. 

Page 58, for form read work. 



THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. 57 

Among other curious relics, found in 'excavating, 
is an Italian brass medallion, described by Mr. Kell, 
as of the earlier eighteenth century. On one side it 
bears a Mater Dolorosa, and on the other side an 
Ecce Homo. This leads one to suppose that Netley, 
like other religious houses, was long regarded as a 
place for religious pilgrimages. 

The Matrix of a JSTetley Abbey seal is still extant, 
and impressions of two other seals, both of them 
abbatial, have been preserved. 

The fish-ponds may be reached by the road on the 
North side of the abbey grounds. They are now the 
property of private owners, and are only interesting 
to a visitor from their important use to the abbey 
in its splendour. 

Marvellous tales are told, — with what ruin are 
they not ? — of a wonderful sword, and the mysterious 
phantom of an Earl of Southampton, who locked in 
rash and vain intruders of his ancient seat. 

Tradition long showed the heap of stones which 
served at once as a grave and monument, by having 
tumbled on the head of some luckless and sacrilegious 
puritan, who purposed to pull the building down 
altogether. 

In 1764, Mr. George Keate, after " reflecting on 
Life's Sum of Good," and his " breast having heaved 
an anxious sigh "for a certain Miss Ardelia, com- 
memorates the fatality in the words : — 



58 THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. 

" Here, too (Belief could old Tradition claim), 

Where swells the rocky Mound in shapeless Heaps 

(His name forgot, his Guilt divulg'd by Fame), 
Some rude Dismantler of this Abbey sleeps." 

It is said that this classical performance of Mr. 
Keate has, doubtless, made other people sleep too. 
His form went through several editions, and that by 
far the best edition was the first — it is by far the 
shortest. 

The letter of Horace Walpole to Mr. Bentley, has 
been given, again and again, but any account of 
Netley Abbey, without it, would be incomplete : — 

" How." says he, " shall I describe Nefcley to you ? I can, 
only, by telling you it is the spot in the world which I and 
Mr. Chute wish. The ruins are vast, and retain fragments of 
beautiful fretted roofs, pendent in the air, with all variety of 
Gothic patterns of windows topped round and round with 
ivy. Many trees have sprouted up among the walls, and only 
want to be increased by cypresses. A hill rises above the 
Abbey, enriched with wood. The Fort, in which we would 
build a tower for habitation, remains with two small platforms. 
This little castle is buried from the Abbey, in a wood, in the 
very centre, on the edge of a hill. On each side breaks in the 
view of the Southampton sea, deep blue, glistening with silver 
and vessels ; on one side terminated by Southampton, on the 
other by Calshot Castle ; and the Isle of Wight rises above the 
opposite hills. In short, they are not the ruins of Netley, but 
of Paradise. Oh ! the purpled abbots ; what a spot they had 
chosen to slumber in ! The scene is so beautifully tranquil, yet 
so lively, that they seem only to have retired into the world."' 






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